Ball State University is the one to watch. Propelled by an innovative, immersive approach to education and guided by clear and enduring values, Ball State University is on the minds and in the hearts of every potential student, elected official, and community leader. We are a source of pride for alumni and our community. Our Marketing Campaign "We Fly" is part of an inspiring new campaign to reflect who we are and what we do at Ball State University. Ball State’s unwavering belief in an education rooted in creativity, values, and intellectual creativity began in the late 19th century, when Muncie business leaders envisioned a local college to help boost the city’s development. Among the visionaries were the five Ball Brothers—Lucius, William, Edmund, Frank, and George—industrialists and philanthropists who moved from New York to Muncie looking to expand their glass container business. A Teaching School Opens A small, private teacher training school opened 1899. After the community’s efforts to sustain the college failed, the Ball brothers purchased the land and buildings of the defunct institution and donated them to the State of Indiana. This gift became the Indiana State Normal School Eastern Division, which opened in 1918 to meet Indiana’s need for more and better teachers. In recognition of the Ball family’s generosity, the Indiana General Assembly changed the school's name to Ball Teachers College in 1922 and then Ball State Teachers College in 1929. The College Becomes a University By the 1960s, the regional teachers college had begun to attract faculty from outside the Midwest, and students sought majors in areas such as business, architecture, and other emerging disciplines. Enrollment and funding surged with national trends, and new facilities and degree offerings were added. In 1965, the Indiana General Assembly renamed the college Ball State University, acknowledging its phenomenal growth in enrollment and facilities, the variety and quality of its educational programs and services, and the anticipation of the broader role it would play in the state’s future.